Joker (Earth-77)
Jackson Cesar "Jack" Hamill, later and better known as The Joker is a psychotic anarchist mastermind and murderer, being at the very top of the city's criminal underworld, greatly feared by other crime bosses. Described as a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy", he is potent in both mental combat and strategic planning, Devoid of empathy or pity for anybody taking part in his wicked schemes either by intimidation or fraud, and was particularly unkind to his former sidekick and ex-girlfriend Harley Quinn, such as manipulating and beating her to amuse himself. This however later led to his betrayal and murder at Harley's hands, though later Joker was later resurrected from the dead by a psychopathic fan named Jerome Valeska, whom Joker took as his protégé, allowing him to once again reign terror upon Gotham City. He is also the long-time arch-nemesis of Batman. He has been directly responsible for numerous tragedies in the Bat Family's life, including, murdering the first Robin's parents, the death of the second Robin (Jason Todd) and the paralyzing of Barbara Gordon. He is generally one of the most infamous of Gotham's criminal elements. Personality Due to suffering abuse by his family, by an Carl Grissom's assistant, Jack snapped and drove completely insane, becoming nothing more or less than a personification of radical nihilism, insanity, cynicism, mental instability and anarchism. He viewed himself as not bad, good, or neutral, but rather a level higher than everyone else when it came to life. Joker believed that superficial and meaningless chaos and selfishness was basic human nature and tried to get everyone to agree with that theory. The Joker was very egocentric and vainglorious in this area, as he disliked people who resisted or fought his opinion. The Joker took pride in having reached that conclusion before everyone else and viewed morally strong people as naive, immature, ridiculous, and foolish. The Joker was also not greedy and had no interest in money or even companionship. The Joker was really hard to place, as he knew what he was doing was evil by modern standards, but at the same time, he hoped that his behavior would become acceptable once everyone realized that anarchy was the only way to live. However, once the people of Gotham proved him wrong, outside of a brief moment of anger, he didn't really care. This implies that he was doing this all for fun. The Joker was also shown to be abnormally manipulative, temperamental, treacherous, impatient, and above all sadistic. He took immense joy in others being physically or psychologically wounded and even made dead-pan jokes on the occasions. The Joker was also utterly fearless and masochistic which robbed Batman of his pain-inflicting and fear inducing tactics on his enemies. Those traits also make Joker a good hand-to-hand opponent for the Caped Crusader despite him seemingly having no martial arts training as he frantically charged at Batman and ruthlessly wailed on him, something an opponent with a fear of getting hurt would never have done. Joker exhibits various symptoms of an antisocial personality, blatantly disregarding laws and social norms far beyond standard deviant behavior. The Joker also has a low level of inhibition and a relentless drive to disturb the status quo. He is driven by something other than greed, as he complains that the criminals of the mob are just seeking a profit and that the city deserves "a better class of criminal", namely himself (with it being heavily implied, especially with his declaration that he intended to spread the message that "everything burns", that his motivation and idea for a better class of criminal was to cause chaos simply for the sake of chaos itself). While The Joker does attempt to take control of the city by recruiting mob henchmen, he appears to hold his philosophy of chaos higher than himself. He describes himself as chaos itself. Despite the fact that The Joker never cared about money (as evidenced by his burning of the mob's money that he earned to recover Lau from the MCU and stating that his actions aren't "about money."), he did see some usefulness of money; we know this by the implication that he used the money he stole from Gotham National Bank to create his custom suit, acquire his equipment and weaponry, and hire others to form his own gang as the mob's agents were simply used as a means by Joker to gain control of Gotham's infrastructure and cripple the mobs power. The Joker subscribes to a morally nihilistic mindset and is obsessed with the limits of morality, while also being described as having "zero empathy"; the two may come together to reflect The Joker's doubts about the depths of human morality, based on his belief that "When the chips are down; these civilized people, they'll eat each other". He is also masochistic and immune to pain and intimidation, demonstrated when Batman is throwing Jack around the room and attacking him, demanding the location of Jason Todd, he takes the assault with pleasure as, under multiple occasions, he laughed while being beaten by Batman. The Joker also has no regard for human life, and takes sadistic pleasure in torturing others to achieve his goals, evidenced by when he brutally murdered Robin, while ignoring Harley's pleas not to do it, and left a jocular spray-painted message for Batman on the damaged Robin Suit, His dark and twisted personality makes Joker find humor or sport in the suffering and fear of his enemies, and he himself is seemingly impossible to intimidate, due to his fearlessness. Regarding his parentage, Jack absolutely hated his mother and father. Though he finally discovered that Arlene Romero was his birth mother, Jack initially seemed to have a low opinion of her, claiming she was "pathetic" and a "creep". Even after learning that Arlene was his birth mother, Jack merely stated "I'll be damned" in an easygoing and nonchalant manner, only shortly afterwards realizing the humor in the revelation. Arlene was also somewhat unsympathetic and insensitive towards her son and admits she was a bad mother but loved him nevertheless and constantly gave him shelter and a home, even helping Jack cover up his patricide of his legal mother for that reason alone. Whilst meeting with his birth mother after breaking into her house, Jack mockingly called her "ma", "mommy", and "mom" all before killing her. His father was his first ever victim. He was stated to be cold, abusive, defamatory, and vituperative to his son, and highly promiscuous and alcohol. Jack is also unlike anything that Gotham had ever seen, as he was a psychopath who only wanted chaos for the sake of chaos. But depsite this Hamill didn't see himself as crazy and when this was brought up to him by Commissioner Loeb he dismissed it, in fact the definition of sanity to The Joker was a "tiny little prison in your minds that stops you from seeing you're just tiny little cogs in a giant absurd machine" and then claims that he is not a cog and is free, showing that on some level Jack knew he was insane. Joker does not care for the people who work for him; when one of his minions got electrocuted in his attempt at removing Batman's mask, he proceeded to laugh hysterically and kick the minion. He then mocked him by making noises similar to that of someone being electrocuted, before spitting on him and resorting to his attempt at removing the mask himself. This, along with the same minion later being revealed to have a wired bomb surgically implanted inside him, shows that he has no problems inflicting pain upon people who work for him. Along with being extremely sadistic through psychological torture, physical pain, and intimidation, the Joker also seems to have no care for his own safety or survival, such as when he was telling Batman to run him over with his Batcycle (as well as briefly cursing under his breath when Batman decided to crash the Batcycle over running him over), and when Batman threw him off a skyscraper building to his supposed death and he did nothing but laugh (both is due to the Joker believing that he would 'win' by provoking Batman into proving him right by forcing the Dark Knight to commit murder.) Joker seems genuinely upset when Batman doesn't kill him, to the point where he admits his defeat and refers to Batman as "incorruptible" after their last fight. Similarly, when Gambol attempts to have the Joker killed during a mob meeting, he revealed that he wired himself with explosives, having anticipated the possibility that he'd be gunned down during this meeting. During his interrogation at the hands of Batman, while taunting him about how the latter had "nothing" at his disposal to break him, he strongly implied that Batman's only option for dealing with him is to murder him. This proves that Joker absolutely doesn't care about himself and his life at all, only his desire to spread chaos and anarchy and proving that all men can be corrupted if pushed hard enough. He also is shown to be very literal in his word usage, which allowed him to carry out his crimes and even betray his minions while at the same time technically keeping his word. The last trait is especially evident when he turned on the Mob after retrieving their money: When the Chechen angrily told him that The Joker was a man of his word when Jack revealed he planned to set the cash on fire, The Joker confirmed he indeed is that and made clear that he only intended to burn the half of the money he got from retrieving Lau. He's done it often enough that his trademark was claiming that he was "a man of his word." In addition, Hamill was exceedingly cunning, manipulative through the use of fear, oblivious to his insanity and depravity, and flawlessly thorough in his plans. In addition, the Joker was exceedingly cunning, manipulative through the use of fear, oblivious to his insanity and depravity, and flawlessly thorough in his plans. The Joker's only real setback was his blind ambition that everyone was as cruel deep down as he was on the surface. The Joker also lacked any fear of being killed in his actions, as demonstrated by his trying to goad Batman into running him over as well as laughing when Batman threw him off the roof of a building, which made him far more dangerous. The only predictable aspect of the Joker's criminally insane psyche is his inherent unpredictability: Joker describes himself as "an idea, a state of mind, who executes his will according to his plan." Hence, given the chance, he will kill again and again, but the how, why, when, and whom he will kill cannot be anticipated, sometimes even by genius detectives like Batman and Commissioner Gordon . His reasons and methods are not necessarily random, but are so quixotic and impulsive they may very well be. Powers and Abilities Powers *'Cheating Death:' The Joker has cheated death numerous times, even in seemingly inescapable and lethal situations. He has been, among other things, caught in explosions, electrocuted, shot repeatedly, and dropped from great heights, but he always returns to once again wreak havoc. Abilities *'Indomitable Will:' Jack possesses an obliviousness to danger that makes him invulnerable to fear and intimidation, which are usually Batman's greatest weapons in combat. Hence, Hamill does not fear death and will even threaten his own life to achieve his goal or make a point. This makes The Joker the Dark Knight's most formidable enemy. *'Genius Level Intellect:' The Joker is portrayed as highly intelligent and skilled in the fields of chemistry and engineering, as well an expert with explosives. From his first appearance onward, he has been consistently portrayed as capable of hijacking broadcasts - usually news programs - of both the television and radio varieties. Joker goes so far as to describe himself as "an idea, a state of mind, who executes his will according to his plan." Hence, his intellect extends itself to his tactical, strategic, deception, manipulative, leadership, escapology, and intimidation skills. **'Gadgetry:' Jack commits crimes with countless "comedic" weapons (such as razor-sharp playing cards, acid-spewing flowers, cyanide pies, and lethally electric joy buzzers) and Joker venom. **'Weapon Expert:' Joker employed various deadly weapons, often based on party-gag items. **'Chemistry Expert:' Frequently used a toxin that stretched victim's face's into a Joker-like grin and caused death. **'Master Engineer:' He is a brilliant engineer, designing advanced generators that could act as powerful explosive devices. **'Escape Artist:' Unbelievable escapist and stronger endurance than a normal human being. **'Master Escapologist:' The Joker is a genius at escaping unscathed in extremely dangerous situations, despite staggering odds. **'Tactical Analysis' **'Master Strategist:' Belies Joker's immense insanity is a dangerously cunning and intelligent master tactician, Joker has terrorised Gotham for many years,masterminded countless anarchic plans for immense chaos and destruction which lead to the deaths of numerous people,he is a unpredictably skilled anarchist planner to an extent that many times Batman could not completely stop the tremendous misfortune and bloodshed caused by Joker's ingenious malevolence,despite his immensely dangerous nature,through his dark charisma and extremely manipulative leadership. **'Leadership Skills:' Jack was able to assume leadership of the Maniax, a group of insane and volatile individuals, and later led hundreds of chaotic citizens of Gotham into causing chaos and havoc. Following his second incarceration in Arkham, he was able to become leader of both of the inmates and the guards, claiming to be very charismatic. *'Disguise' *'Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic):' While having no formal combat training, Jack is a strong hand-to-hand combatant. Being a completely unpredictable fighter, Joker relies on his insanity fueled instinct to defeat even well trained combatants such as members of Gotham city police force and Bane's henchman. Even Batman required very great effort to subdued the Clown Prince of Crime. *'Immense Speed:' Joker is a highly quick and agile fighter, able evade assaults from several enemies at once.He was so fast that not even Batman could catch him that easily. *'High Pain Tolerance:' Jack has learned to withstand physical pain. Even when Batman kept punching him, he smiled and stayed conscious. He also seems to have little to no fear of death, or anything else besides boredom. *'Psychology:' The Joker understands human psychology very well. He predicts his enemies' next move and uses it against them. *'Singing:' Jack has a repertoire of songs he knows the whole way through, and can perform them word-perfect with no rehearsal, supporting the idea he was once an entertainer of some stripe. He seems to prefer songs he can croon to. *'Master of Deception:' After his resurrection, Jack was able to trick Gotham, including Batman into thinking he was a mere circus clown. *'Intimidation:' Jack, due to his capacity for heinous torture and murder, commands a very intimidating presence, enough to frighten low-level thugs and make them work for him out of the sheer fear of what he would do to them if they refused. This the one quality that Hamill and Batman have in common to an extent. *'Make-up artist:' Jack is shown to be a skilled make-up artist. Jack was able to use make-up to disguise himself as a circus clown. *'Voice alteration:' Jack was able to change his voice to make himself sound like someone else, as shown when he disguised himself as a circus clown. *'Skilled Marksman:' Jack has shown proficiency with guns and other firearms. He was able to shoot and kill one of his own followers without looking at the man behind him using his hidden sleeve gun. *'Dark Humor:' His sense of humor could be credited to what he perceived to be wrong with the world around him, as he was often seen laughing at the pointlessly terrible and truly wrong. This gave an indication as to his true feelings on the matter as his laughter was seen as hollow at times. The Joker only found humor in what was wrong with humanity and pointed it out, highlighting it before attempting to either broaden the chaos around it or simply destroy it himself, often doing both in the process. *'Pathological Fearlessness:' Jack possesses an obliviousness to danger that makes him invulnerable to fear and intimidation, which are usually Batman's greatest weapons in combat. Hence, Hamill does not fear death and will even threaten his own life to achieve his goal or make a point. This makes The Joker the Caped Crusader's most formidable enemy. Weaknesses *'Mental Illness' Paraphernalia Equipment *'Smylex:' A deadly poison that infects his victims with a ghoulish rictus grin as they die while laughing uncontrollably. This venom comes in many forms, from gas to darts to liquid poison, and has been his primary calling card from his first appearance. *'Joker Teeth:' A common weapon and theme for equipment for Jack are "Joker Teeth." Clacking, wind-up gag teeth are commonly used to mock the Dark Knight and his allies. They are one of Hamill's signature items. Transportation *'Jokermobile:' The Joker utilizes an Ferrari F12berlinetta is his personal stylized car. Weapons *'Various Joker Gadgets:' Razor-sharp playing cards, acid flower, various guns and other weaponry. The Joker is unpredictable in that he will use any kind of weapon afforded him. *'Joker's Joy Buzzer:' Jack often used a modified novelty joy buzzer strapped to the palm of his hand. The buzzer administered a lethal dose of electricity into anyone who came into contact with it. *'Guns/Firearms:' He uses different firearms such as handguns and even rocket launchers. He used a small pistol that retracts from his sleeve to kill one of his followers. *'Knives:' Jerome carried various knives such as trench knives, throwing knives, and pocket knives. *'Explosives:' Hamill is an expert at bomb making and has even bought nuclear weapons. He loves using time bombs and does use grenades in battle, though they may be disguised as harmless objects like toys, dolls, balls or marbles. Notes *This design belongs to Phil Cho on Deviantart. *The Joker is named after Jack Nicholson, Cesar Romero and Mark Hamill. *This version of The Joker dyes his hair, purple, instead of green. Trivia *Jack Hamill is the sixth incarnation of The Joker to have an established backstory and identity, with the first one being Jack Nicholson's Joker in the 1989 Batman film, the second in The Killing Joke, the third the Martha Wayne version of the Joker from the 2011 "Flashpoint" crossover story arc, in which she was Joker in an alternative universe where Bruce Wayne was dead (having been killed by the mugger) and Thomas Wayne as Batman, the fourth being Lovers and Madmen, a Joker comic origin story, and the fifth being Jeremiah Valeska. *Jack has committed familicide. *Jack's transformation and breaking into laughter is similar to The Joker's breakdown in The Killing Joke following his transformation. He even clutches his head in a very similar way. *The Joker's role as the killer of John and Mary Grayson is typically taken by Tony Zucco in the comics and other media. 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